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Anonymous User wrote:Fenwick & West is also very elite. Great clients, great culture, great pay.

I wouldn't call their patent lit group "elite." Their emerging tech/startup corporate work is certainly elite, but their patent lit group handles earlier stage companies in smaller lawsuits. When those companies get big, they go elsewhere for their patent lit. Litigation at Fenwick tends to play second fiddle to the corporate work.

I will agree with you on great culture and great (straight up market) pay. Great clients depends on your perspective and what you're looking for. F&W's clients are very different than Weil SV's patent lit clients, for example.

Anonymous User wrote:Fenwick & West is also very elite. Great clients, great culture, great pay.

I wouldn't call their patent lit group "elite." Their emerging tech/startup corporate work is certainly elite, but their patent lit group handles earlier stage companies in smaller lawsuits. When those companies get big, they go elsewhere for their patent lit. Litigation at Fenwick tends to play second fiddle to the corporate work.

I will agree with you on great culture and great (straight up market) pay. Great clients depends on your perspective and what you're looking for. F&W's clients are very different than Weil SV's patent lit clients, for example.

In the context of what Winston did this summer, that in the no-offer bloodbath of class of 2010, Fenwick gave far more SAs than it had slots. It told the SAs this was at least giving them an opportunity that was better than nothing at all -- but Fenwick said this after a number of students who had other opportunities they could have taken instead. And, Fenwick had one of the worst no-offer rates of any SV firm that summer, even though a lot of other firms like Cooley and WSGR were having similar financial issues. But I guess all is forgiven now.

Anonymous User wrote:Fenwick & West is also very elite. Great clients, great culture, great pay.

I wouldn't call their patent lit group "elite." Their emerging tech/startup corporate work is certainly elite, but their patent lit group handles earlier stage companies in smaller lawsuits. When those companies get big, they go elsewhere for their patent lit. Litigation at Fenwick tends to play second fiddle to the corporate work.

I will agree with you on great culture and great (straight up market) pay. Great clients depends on your perspective and what you're looking for. F&W's clients are very different than Weil SV's patent lit clients, for example.

Fenwick handles the patent work for Cisco. I wouldn't call Cisco an emerging tech/start-up. Fenwick has the most momentum of all SV firms in the tech space and is punching in far above its weight. Go to another firm if you want to play it safe. Go to Fenwick if you want to get in on the ground floor of the next "Wilson Sonsini" of the Valley.

To answer OP's question, check Chambers for what is "elite." As for what is selective, I guess Quinn/Irell are selective (not nearly as selective as Keker obviously). I'm sure there are others with varying degrees of selectivity.

Anonymous User wrote:Fenwick handles the patent work for Cisco. I wouldn't call Cisco an emerging tech/start-up. Fenwick has the most momentum of all SV firms in the tech space and is punching in far above its weight. Go to another firm if you want to play it safe. Go to Fenwick if you want to get in on the ground floor of the next "Wilson Sonsini" of the Valley.

They handle Cisco's deal work, not patent lit as far as I can see (Google shows this).

bk1 wrote:To answer OP's question, check Chambers for what is "elite." As for what is selective, I guess Quinn/Irell are selective (not nearly as selective as Keker obviously). I'm sure there are others with varying degrees of selectivity.

Anonymous User wrote:Fenwick handles the patent work for Cisco. I wouldn't call Cisco an emerging tech/start-up. Fenwick has the most momentum of all SV firms in the tech space and is punching in far above its weight. Go to another firm if you want to play it safe. Go to Fenwick if you want to get in on the ground floor of the next "Wilson Sonsini" of the Valley.

Is top reputation or pure selectivity what you're looking for? They kind of go hand in hand, but since some of the top dogs have so much work and are hungry to hire, it means you... can actually get a job there (in my eyes a good thing?) -